Which is it, “half” or “twice”?
I say “half” makes no sense at all. Virtually everything is cheap at half the price. Something that’s cheap at twice the price is damn cheap and rare.
I agree in modern lingo, but I think in some cases, such as the lyrics to the song Who Will Buy? from Oliver!:
it’s meant to be interpreted as “it’s half the price of cheap”, or “take whatever cheap is and then half that”.
Did you post this in two forums? The same poll is in IMHO.
I always thought that the original spiel was “cheap at twice the price.” And when that became a cliche, “cheap at half the price” came in as a joke.
Reported as a duplicate - "Cheap at _____ the price" - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board
We don’t need two of these.